Pantera released Cowboys from Hell on July 24, 1990. It was their fifth studio album and major label debut via Atco Records, and it marked the band’s first collaboration with producer Terry Date.
This was also the point when Pantera started to abandon their original glam style for a heavier sound. It is still hard for me to believe that Pantera started out as a Glam Metal band, however, there are plenty of pictures to prove it. Frizzy hair, bright colored spandex, all of it!
Cowboys From Hell was the band’s breakthrough record. It became their first to chart, reaching number 27 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers. Since its release, the album has sold over 2 million copies in the United States alone.
Cowboys From Hell
The album’s sound is characterized by its heavy, down-tuned guitars, groove-oriented rhythms, and Phil Anselmo’s aggressive vocals. The songs are also notable for their complex and technical guitar work, influenced by thrash metal and progressive metal.
Pantera released the title track “Cowboys from Hell” as the first single. Fans consider it one of their signature songs. Other fan favorites off the album include “Domination,” and “The Art of Shredding,” “Cemetery Gates,” and “Psycho Holiday.”
The album’s sound is characterized by its heavy groove metal riffing, which is driven by the band’s backbone and powerful rhythm section of bassist Rex Brown and drummer Vinnie Paul. Guitarist Dimebag Darrell’s solos are also a highlight of the album, and they helped to define the sound of groove metal.
The cover art shows the band posing in a Western saloon. However, it was just a picture of the Pantera, over a decades old photo of a saloon in Telluride Colorado.
Cowboys from Hell is one of the most important and influential albums in heavy metal. It helped to usher in the era of groove metal, and it influenced a generation of metal bands. The album is still a classic today, and it is one of Pantera’s most popular albums.
The popularity of Cowboys from Hell eventually landed Pantera on the massive Monsters of Rock Festival bill with AC/DC, Motley Crue, Metallica, and more in 1991. This led to their gigantic show in front of over 500,000 screaming fans in the former Soviet Union.
In 2010, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Cowboys from Hell, Pantera released a deluxe edition of the album featuring a second disc of live material, including a live show from the Foundations Forum in Los Angeles recorded in 1990 and previously unreleased.
Pantera
The newly reformed lineup of Pantera consists of Phil Anselmo on vocals, Rex Brown on bass, Black Label Society’s Zakk Wylde stepping in for Dimebag on guitar, and Charlie Benante from Anthrax stepping in for Vinnie Paul on drums.
Pantera will play with Lamb of God and Child Bite at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion on August 2. Tickets are on sale now.